Firearm



May 22., 1951 c. A. YOUNG 2,553,995.

' FIREARM Filed July 1v, 1947 Patented May 22, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FIREARM Charles A. Young, Springfield, Ohio Application July 17, 1947, Serial No. 761,648

1 claim. 1

This invention pertains to rearms and more particularly to a safety lock for preventing accitrolled by a part of the fingers of the shooters trigger hand, other than his trigger finger, substantially at the moment of firing.

The object of the invention is to improve the structure as well as the means and mode of operation of safety fire control means whereby such safety mechanism will be simple in construction and may be economically manufactured and installed in conventional firearms, including existing firearms which will be eflicient in use, automatic in operation, uniform in action, involving but few operative parts and be unlikely to get out of repair.

A further object of the invention is to provide conveniently positioned releasing means within easy grasp of the shooter at the moment of fire and operable without disturbing the shooters aim.

A further object of the invention is to provide prevention of operation of the re control mechanism substantially until the moment of the trigger retraction, and which will prevent release of the re control mechanism in event the gun falls or received a violent shock.

The invention includes a safety i'lre control mechanism possessing the advantageous structural featuresand the inherent meritorius characteristics and mode of operation hereinafter set forth or their equivalents.

With the above primary and other incidental objects in View as will more fully appear in the specification, the invention intended to be protected by Letters Patent consists of the features of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and the mode of operation, as hereinafter described or illustrated in the accompanying drawings or their equivalents.

In the drawings, wherein is shown the preferred, but obviously not necessarily the only form of embodiment thereof,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a conventional lock action of anordinary gun with the housing side plate removed, to which the present safety lock is applied.

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a similar assembly embodying a different form of Sear spring.

YLike parts are indicated by similar characters of referencethroughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, I indicates the barrel or barrels of a conventional gun of which 2 is the usual stock and 3 the frame or housing interconnecting the barrel I` with the stock 2 affording a mounting for the customary fire control mechanism.

Within the housing or frame 3 is a spring propelled firing hammer 4, or two such hammers in event the gun is of double barrel type, whichv are normally held retracted against the tension of their propelling spring by a sear 5 for each hammer. The sears are provided with notches 6 in which engage corresponding shoulders 1 on the hammers Il. In the drawings there are shown well known L-shaped sears 5 having rearwardly extended arms which are overlaid by a spring plate 9.

On the under side of the housing or frame 3 is a trigger guard Ill Within which are two finger operable triggers Il of a double barrel gun. As thus far described the structure is that of a conventional iirearm, which may be single fire or double fire gun, which, per se, forms no part of the present invention.

Projecting upwardly Afrom the bottom of the frame or housing 3 is a standard l2 to the top of which is pivoted, for to and fro oscillatory motion, an arcuate arm or cam I3 having a projecting lug I4 which overlies and engages the spring plate 9 which in turn bears upon the rearwardly extending arms 8 of the sears 5 to lock the spring plate and with it the sears 5 against elevation. The arcuate arm I3 extends downwardly and rearwardly of the trigger guard l0, and is provided at its extremity with a gravity weight I5 assisted by a compression spring I6. Normally the Weight portion I5 of the arm projects exteriorly of the frame or housing at the rear of the trigger guard, in which position the lug I4, upon the arcuate arm I3, overhangs and bears upon the spring plate 9 to prevent elevation of the sear arms 8 to disengage the notch 6 of the sear 5 from the shoulder 1 of the hammer 4, under iniiuence of retraction of a trigger Il. The head I5 of the locking arm I3 normally projects in a position to be conveniently grasped by the ngers, other than the trigger nger, of the shooters hand, while grasping the rneck of the stock 2, with his trigger finger in firing position adjacent to a trigger II. In such position, a slight squeeze of the shooters hand about the neck of the gun stock, thus depressing the head I of the locking lever I3, retracts the locking lug I4 from over the spring plate and sear arms, enabling the latter to be elevated to disengage the notch 6 of the sear from the shoulder 'I of the iiring hammer 4, to discharge the rearm. Immediately upon release of the shooters grasp, the locking lever I3 is mmediately returned to locking position by the reaction of the spring I6.

Thus i the fsear i is .flocked in engagingI relation with thefhammeratf all times, =until the moment of firing. The act of grasping the gun in firing position is suiiicient to momentarily unlock the sear for disengagement from the hammer by retraction of a trigger II. The structure obviates the safety locks to be manually: releasedfinad- Vance of positioning the gun, .thus leaving the firearm without safety protection until again manually returned to operative relation.

As shown in the drawings the spring plate is bifurcated, each'frurcationof which overlies and 'yieldinglyresists one sear independently of the other. In the assembly illustrated, the spring .platefgiisengaged and clamped in operative position by one. of the studs vertically transxing 'their-ame or housing 3. -I-Iowever, in other forms otassembly-wherein, for example an expansion spring I8 -is usedas in Fig. 3, the locking lever- I3 mayfengagedirectly with the sear arms 3 invsteadfof indirectly4 through the interposed spring plate 9. Obviously the present safety lock is applicable to sears .of other shapes and motion. Thefassernbly shown. in the drawings is for illus- `trative-purpose, only,and the invention is not .limited tothespecic arrangement shown.

The present construction is such that imme- -diately upon release of the head I5 of the lock- ;ingflevel I3 `byathe hand of the shooter, the lug yI-l-is .at .once automatically presented in sear ,.ing lever-head I5 lis held depressed, immediately uponrrelease of grasp on the gun stock and the head'fIS ofthelocking lever, the lug I4 instantly .locks Lboth sears. However this in no way inter- ,feres .vvith-,the opening .of the gun and ejection .invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features, it is to :be understood that the invention is not limited tothe specic features shown, but that the means and Yconstruction herein disclosed comprise the ,preferred form of several modes of putting the invention into effect, and the invention is thereforeclaimedinany of itsforms .or modifications withinthelegitimateand valid scope of.,theap pended claim.

.Having thus described vmy invention, VI claim:

A safety lock fora mu1ti,barreled iirearm wherein a pluralityof sears are'held in engagement with associatedimpact members to'hold the.. latter .cockedandare disengaged by retrac- .tion of an associatedtrigger,.including .a single spring influencedv depressible cam. member normally overlying .the `sears `.and.preventing disengagement of a searfromits associated impact member .of the .firearm anddepressibleby grasp oi' the shooters handwhile positioned for retraction of .the trigger to temporarily unlock the sears for disengagement by i trigger. operation.

.CHARLESA YOUNG.

REFERENCES .'CITED vx.The following referencesare .of record in the :filel of this patent:

` UNITED vSTA'IES vPATENTS Number Name VDate 834,772 'Tambour Oct..30, .1906 992,082 VTambour May 9, 1911 .1,450,976 VLarson Apr.. 10, 1923 11,835,715 McCoy Dec. 8,1931 

